This invention relates to a seat belt guide, more particularly, a seat belt guide wherein an attaching position of a seat belt can be adjusted.
Heretofore, in a rear seat of an automobile, there has been known a seat belt guide wherein a seat belt withdrawn from a retractor is guided.
For example, a conventional seat belt guide 100, as shown in FIG. 12, is disposed at an upper portion (in the drawing, a position near an outside of the automobile at an upper portion) of a seat back of a rear seat 102. A seat belt 104 is fed into a passenger compartment through an opening 108 of a package tray 106 from a retractor (not shown) disposed in the rear of the rear seat 102, and inserted into a guiding slot of a guiding portion 105 provided at a front end of the seat belt guide 100. Thus, the seat belt 104 is held at a predetermined position guided by the seat belt guide 100.
However, since the conventional seat belt guide 100 is fixed to the rear seat 102, a guiding position of the seat belt 104 can not be changed. Therefore, in case a passenger 110 of small stature or build, such as an aged person or child as shown in the drawing, wears the seat belt 104, an attaching position of the seat belt 104 is relatively shifted upward, and the seat belt 104 may not be properly positioned. Therefore, there has been a problem making it necessary for the passenger to use a cushion or the like to adjust the height of the attaching position.
In view of the above problem, the present invention has been made and an object of the invention is to provide a seat belt guide, wherein the attaching position of the seat belt can be adjusted, and the seat belt can be properly applied to the passenger according to the build of the passenger.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
According to a first aspect of the invention, a seat belt guide for guiding a seat belt, in the vicinity of a passenger""s shoulder, fed out of a retractor disposed at a rear side of a seat and obliquely attached to restrain an upper half of a passenger seated on the seat, includes a moving guide device for moving a guiding position of the seat belt in a front-to-rear direction.
In the first aspect of the invention, the seat belt fed out of the rear side of the seat is attached to restrain the passenger by obliquely crossing the upper half and over one shoulder of the passenger seated on the seat. The seat belt guide guides the seat belt across the passenger in the vicinity of the shoulder. In case the seat belt guide shifts the guiding position of the seat belt forward relative to the seat by the moving device, a winding angle of the seat belt wound around the shoulder of the passenger becomes shallow, so that an overlapping quantity becomes small. Thus, a tightening force of the seat belt applied to the shoulder portion is reduced or is released, so that the seat belt is extended to a waist side across a chest portion of the passenger.
Therefore, even if a passenger of small build wears the seat belt, the seat belt is not wound tightly around or in the vicinity of his shoulder more than necessity, so that without relatively changing a height for attaching the seat belt, the seat belt can be properly applied to the passenger.
According to a second aspect of the invention, in the seat belt guide as described in the first aspect, a main portion of the seat belt guide mounted to the seat or a rear tray is provided with an opening at a front end surface thereof and an inserting portion formed in an approximately hollow shape or portion extending from the opening to a rear side. The moving device is formed of a sliding member to be inserted into the inserting portion to be slid in a front-to-rear direction, and a guiding portion disposed at a front end of the sliding member and provided with a seat belt inserting opening for guiding the seat belt threrethrough.
In the invention according to the second aspect, the main portion of the seat belt guide is mounted to the seat or the rear tray, and the sliding member is inserted into the inserting portion of the main portion. Since the inserting portion includes the opening at the front end surface of the main portion to be formed in the approximately hollow shape portion extending from the opening to the rear side, the inserted sliding member is guided through the inserting portion to thereby slide in the front-to-rear direction relative to the seat.
Then, a guiding position of the seat belt can be moved by forming a guiding portion provided with the inserting opening at the front end of the sliding member and inserting the seat belt into the inserting opening.
As described above, the moving device for moving the guiding position of the seat belt is materialized by the sliding member for sliding in the front-to-rear direction of the seat and the guiding portion provided to the front end of the sliding member, so that the moving device can be produced small at a low cost without using mechanical and electrical devices.
According to a third aspect of the invention, in the seat belt guide as described in the second aspect, the inserting portion is provided with a first engaging portion and the sliding member is provided with a second engaging portion to be engaged with the first engaging portion at a position where the sliding member is slid forward by a predetermined distance.
In the invention as described in the third aspect, when the sliding member is slid forward by a predetermined distance, the second engaging portion of the sliding member is engaged with the first engaging portion provided to the inserting portion to be held at the position. Thus, a desired guiding state can be obtained without providing a fastening device or the like for fixing the sliding member, which is slid forward, at the position, with a simple structure.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the seat belt guide as described in the second and third aspects includes a supporting shaft provided in the inserting portion and extending at right angles with respective to the sliding direction of the sliding member; an engaging portion provided at a rear end of the sliding member to be engaged with the supporting shaft at the position where the sliding member is slid forward by the predetermined distance to thereby allow the sliding member to be swung around the supporting shaft; and a resilient urging device for urging the swingable sliding member to a side approximately opposite to the direction in which the seat belt to be attached to the passenger is taken out of the inserting opening at least in a state that the sliding member is slid forward.
In the fourth aspect of the invention, when the sliding member is slid forward by the predetermined distance, the engaging portion disposed at the rear end of the sliding member is engaged with the supporting shaft of the inserting portion. The supporting shaft is disposed at right angles to the sliding direction of the sliding member, and the sliding member engaged with the supporting shaft at the engaging portion thereof can be swung in the horizontal direction around the supporting shaft as a pivot. The swingable sliding member is urged by the urging device in the approximately opposite side to the direction in which the seat belt is taken out of the inserting opening when the seat belt is attached at least in the state where the sliding member is slid forward. xe2x80x9cThe approximately opposite sidexe2x80x9d means a direction opposite to the seat-belt-taken-out direction in a moving direction, i.e. horizontal direction, of the sliding member swingable in the horizontal direction.
As described above, since the sliding member which has been slid forward is urged to the approximately opposite side to the direction in which the seat belt is taken out to swing when the seat belt is attached, the guiding position appears to be moved outward when viewed by the passenger who wears the seat belt, so that the attaching position of seat belt is relatively lowered. Therefore, the seat belt, attaching height of which is lowered, can be attached to a proper position of the passenger of small build.
Also, even if the seat belt is taken out vigorously when the seat belt is attached, since the sliding member is swung in the taken-out direction of the same, forces applied to the sliding member itself, engaging portion or supporting shaft of the main portion are absorbed to thereby prevent them from being broken. After attachment of the seat belt, the sliding member is urged outward by the urging device to move the guiding position, so that an attaching state suitable for the passenger of small build as described above can be obtained.